TAMS buyout, budget rejected

KENNEBUNK — RSU 21 officials were regrouping May 25 following the defeat of three of four ballot items, including the budget, in Tuesday's election.

TAMS buyout loses in referendum

KENNEBUNK — RSU 21 officials were regrouping May 25 following the defeat of three of four ballot items, including the budget, in Tuesday's election.

Nearly 3,400 voters in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel turned out May 24 to decide four questions that dealt with the RSU 21 budget, the revolving renovation funds at the Middle School of the Kennebunks and Kennebunk High School, the district cost-sharing formula, and the Thornton Academy Middle School contract buyout.

All but the renovation funds bond failed. Totals for all three communities show the TAMS buyout fell 1,411 to 1,910.

The budget garnered 1,642 yes votes to 1,725 no votes, and cost-sharing, which needed a two-thirds majority, was rejected 1,698 to 1,545.

The bond passed 1,794 to 1,556.

The referendum's overall outcome was shifted by Arundel voters who turned out in impressive numbers to block the controversial TAMS proposal, which would have involved the RSU 21 district spending $1.2 million in surplus funds to buy out the TAMS contract. Arundel voters rejected the buyout with a vote of 781 against and 208 in favor. The town of Kennebunk also rejected the measure with a vote of 951 against and 801 in favor. Kennebunkport approved it with 316 to 313.

"We are delighted," said Thornton Academy Headmaster Carl Stasio. "We didn't want the $1.186 million. We wanted the kids and to grow our program and we're pleased at the outpouring."

Many Arundel parents have argued for keeping and even extending the TAMS contract, raising the specter that cancelling it would take a debilitating financial toll on the school.

The sometimes acrimonious debate unfolded not only in public meetings but on Facebook pages where some school board directors rallied the public to support the buyout while Arundel residents mounted their own opposing campaign.

People from both sides of the debate believe that vehement opposition to TAMS may have caused collateral damage as Arundel residents strongly rejected all four ballot items.

"I think a lot of what happened was a reflection of the TAMS issue," said RSU 21 School Board Chairman Norm Archer. "If the items were separated, I think the budget would have passed."

One Arundel resident who has opposed the buyout, Jim Buttarazzi, agreed.

"It is unfortunate the budget and the cost sharing were rolled into all of this all at once," said Buttarazzi. "I agree that they got wrapped up in the emotion."

The $35.7 million dollar school budget for fiscal year 2012 was approved by a vote of 166 to 24 at a May 10 district budget meeting, and remains more than $750,000 less than adopted school budgets of three years ago, according to district officials. Still, it fell, garnering just 1,636 yes votes, not enough to override 1,726 no votes. Again, Arundel contributed a wide margin, voting 781 against and 208 in favor. Kennebunk approved the budget 960 votes to 749, while Kennebunkport passed it with a vote of 404 to 228.

"The board presented the facts and took it to the voters who made their decision," said RSU 21 School Superintendent Andrew Dolloff. "Now we need to move forward knowing what our situation is going to be. Not having an answer hampered any progress we were trying to make. Now we know what the next five years will look like."

So what happens next?

Only the budget will be put back before voters, said Dolloff, adding that the vote was close enough that officials "don't have a tremendous amount of tweaking."

State law requires that the district wait at least 10 days before holding another vote.

Dolloff hopes the budget will be ready to include in the currently slated June 14 referendum.

"We can pull that off if we can get some things taken care of this week," he said.

The Board of Directors will be holding a special meeting to discuss the budget at 10 a.m. Friday, May 27, at Kennebunk Elementary School.

The cost-sharing measure that was rejected would have involved new debt service to be based on 100 percent property valuation and a disputed $324,000 annual debt would have been divided equally between Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. The agreement would have also cleared up the potential problem of communities having to pay a penalty if a town's elementary school is closed, even if the RSU 21 Board of Directors votes to close the school.

Under the agreement, should the board have voted to close an elementary school but the majority of residents in that town voted to keep it open, the school would have remained open. Further, the towns would have continued to share the expense of running it, just as they had before the vote.

"The cost-sharing vote makes no sense," said Archer. "Kennebunkport gave up a lot to reach this proposal for economic harmony, one that would have benefitted Kennebunk and Arundel significantly over the life of any bond or borrowing, and they shot that down too."

The only measure that passed — with a district-wide count of 1,800 to 1,555 — was the revolving renovation fund project that will include asbestos removal and roof upgrades at Kennebunk High School, with a project cost of $589,700, and indoor air-quality improvements including roof and walkway renovations at MSK, with an estimated project cost of $1 million.

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